Pleasure in serving God
by VP
Posted on Sunday April 26, 2026 at 12:00AM in Sunday Sermons
Bernhard Plockhorst
(1825–1907)
"Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say, rejoice."— Phil. iv. 4.
"It has often been noticed, my dear brethren, and we every day come across examples of it, that when things are going well men think very little about God and about the practice of their religious duties. We may almost say that, as things are at present, most men will not perform their duty to God unless they are driven to do so by something unpleasant and hard to bear. It is when a man is taken ill that he sends for a priest and makes his confession and receives the Sacraments; as soon, however, as he gets well it is only too probable that he will return to his old ways.
Now, this shows that the service of God is felt by a great many to be a heavy burden and yoke. And I am sorry to say that this feeling is not confined to those whose passions and low propensities are so strong as to hold them down for a great part of their lives in slavery and subjection to sin and vice. Many even of those who have freed themselves for the most part from this degrading bondage seem far from the possession of that spirit of holy joy with which every one trying to serve God should be filled. Many even of these seem to find the yoke of the Lord a heavy one: and if they do not cast it off, it is chiefly because they are afraid to do so.
Now, I am not going to say a word against the service of God which springs from the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom.” The fear of God is not merely good-it is necessary for salvation. But it is only the beginning, not the perfection of wisdom. Moreover, it should not be the habitual dominant and constant motive of our religious life it should serve as a motive to fall back upon when higher motives are not felt. As St. Ignatius says: We should ask of God the grace to fear Him, so that if and when through our faults we grow forgetful of God's love, the fear of punishment may hold us back from offending Him. In other words, we ought, as a rule, to be serving God from love and holy joy rather than from fear and dread.
This is the teaching of the Holy Scripture, and especially of the great Apostle our patron, St. Paul. The text is but a sample of similar injunctions which might be found in every one of his Epistles "Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say, rejoice." Do not be always looking upon the service of God as a heavy burden and yoke to which you must be driven as a fear of punishment, but let that service fill your souls at all times with delight and satisfaction. This is what St. Paul enjoins. Why is it not so with us? Why should it be so?
Well, there are ten thousand reasons why the service of God should be delightful and satisfactory; but I can refer to one only this morning— one, however, of which I think that we can all feel the force. As a rule, the man who is carrying on a profitable and successful business is, so long as everything goes well, tolerably happy. You don't see him going about with a long face, and although he may grumble a little, as most men do, you can see that he does not mean it. Now, if this is the case in the midst of the uncertainties which are inseparable from all human transactions, what ought to be the satisfaction and contentment of a man who has seriously taken in hand the one necessary business? For how does the case stand with such a man? The man who has seriously taken in hand the business of saving his own soul must succeed - for him there is no such thing as failure. So long as he is willing he must be prosperous. And why? Because he has Almighty God as a partner. And God is ready to give him what I hope it is not irreverent to call unlimited credit. In this life he pours into his soul His heavenly grace, and this grace gives to all his actions a value which gives him a right to an eternal recompense. No action from morning to night, from week's end to week's end, but may be made profitable and fruitful, if done with a right intention, and, of course, if there is nothing sinful in it. This is the position in which any and every man may be placed and may remain if he so wills, and of the sense and judgment of a man who is not satisfied by such terms I have but a poor opinion." (Third Sunday after Easter - Five-minute Sermons from the Paulist Fathers 1893)
Bearing Injustice
by VP
Posted on Sunday April 19, 2026 at 12:00AM in Sunday Sermons
Let Him Be Crucified (Qu'il soit crucifié) - James Tissot
'Who, when he was reviled, did not revile: when he suffered, he threatened not: but delivered himself to him that judged him unjustly."— Epistle I. St. Peter ii. 22.
" One of the hardest trials, my dear brethren, to which we can be exposed; indeed, perhaps the hardest one of all, is to be condemned unjustly. And the condemnation need not be pronounced in court, and published to the world. It need not even be given by public opinion; no, there may be only a few who share in it, perhaps only one, and that may be one whose judgment is not of much weight; still, to be falsely judged, to be accused of what we have not done, to have even our motives misinterpreted, is a pretty heavy cross to bear. How often will you hear people alleging as a reason for a permanent breach of friendship with someone, that one has belied them? It is of little use to point out that the person who is or seems to be a false accuser, may really not intend to be guilty of falsehood, nor be conscious of rash judgment, but may in his or her heart actually believe the charge, and feel not only justified, but even under an obligation of conscience in making it, and thus be guiltless before God. No, the sting is perhaps even greater, that he should believe a thing about us that we feel is not true, and could not be.
Nor is it enough to say that there are many things which we ought to be judged guilty of, but are not; and that so we can afford to take some punishment that we do not deserve, as we escape a good deal that we do. No, we say to ourselves: "I would not mind it so much if it were true; I would rather take the burden of all the many wrong things that I have done, than of one that I have not." Perhaps that would not really be the fact, but we feel as if it were.
I think, then, that to find a real cure for our heartache about matters of this kind, we must take the one which St. Peter gives us in this Epistle of today. We must take refuge under the shadow of the cross of Him who, as the Apostle says, suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps. The Cross of Christ is the only remedy in the last resort for all the pain and misery of the world, as well as for its sins; and we may as well come to it at once as wait till other consolations have failed.
Let us, then, lay to heart our Lord's example in this matter, as St. Peter tells us; let us keep it always by us, to be ready for use at the first moment. Let us consider how slight and insignificant are all the false judgments that can be made about us, miserable sinners that we are, compared with that which was passed on Him, the Saint of saints; on Him who was not merely holy, but holiness itself, the source of all sanctity, the Giver of every virtue that we can have. Let us consider how He was reckoned with the malefactors, how He was condemned not merely to death, but to the shameful death of a criminal; and how not merely one or two, but the crowds of His own people, whom He had come to save, turned against Him and believed all the false charges which His accusers made.
And let us not imagine that, being in truth God, His human nature was made insensible to all this outrageous injustice by its essential sanctity, or by the homage of the angels, or of those on earth who really knew and loved Him and remained faithful to Him. No; it was no more rendered in this way insensible to the pain of the false charges than it was to the sharp piercing of the nails driven through His hands and feet. Indeed, that He could much better have borne. His infinite purity and sensitiveness to sin only made these suspicions and accusations of it the more intolerable; physical suffering was little in comparison.
Yet, as the Apostle says, in this He did not defend Himself. He was willing to drink this bitter chalice to the dregs. When He was reviled, He reviled not again. He neither cleared Himself, which He could easily have done, nor took the poor remedy which we sinners are too apt to take, of accusing His accusers.
Let us then, when thus tried in our poor way, ask Him to give us the grace to do as He did, and even, if it be possible, to rest for a time at least under accusations which we might remove, when the honor of God is not concerned. And let us remember not to be guilty of rash judgment in our turn, but make, as He did, every possible excuse for those who belie us; let us believe that, so far as they are wrong, they know not what they do. And, lastly, let us take the greater pains to abstain from uncharitable thoughts or words about our neighbors, thus exposing them to a trial which we have found so hard to bear." 2nd Sunday after Easter - Five minute Sermons by the Paulist Fathers, 1893
Duties of Parents
by VP
Posted on Sunday April 19, 2026 at 12:00AM in Sunday Sermons
The Good Shepherd (Le bon pasteur) - James Tissot
"I am the Good Shepherd: I know mine."-St. John x. 14.
"Our Divine Lord, my dear brethren, not only asserts that He is "the Good Shepherd," but also proves Himself to be so by the care and solicitude which He has for the well-being of His flock. He spared no pain, no labor, in His watchful care over His sheep, and finally shed the last drop of His
Blood in their defense, leaving an example to those who are likewise
shepherds in their own sphere. St. Augustine says that parents are
shepherds in their houses, and that they must have the same care for their children that a shepherd has for his flock. They, like the Good Shepherd, must know and feed their sheep, protect them from the wolves, and go before, leading them in the right way. Parents, you must realize that the sheep entrusted to your care are spiritual beings, that they have souls, that they are images of God, created by God the Father, redeemed by God the Son, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and that, in heaven or hell, they shall continue to live for ever. Stainless and bright in baptismal purity are these sheep when placed in your hands to be led to their inheritance of the kingdom of heaven.
In order that you may be good shepherds you must know your children. Know them interiorly, what their dispositions are, what they wish, desire, and aim at; what troubles they have, what they need, what is good or evil, expedient or injurious to them, what their faults and defects are, whether they are inclined to this or that vice, that evil habits may not be allowed to grow up and take root in them. "Hast thou children," says sacred Scripture, "instruct them and bow down their neck from their childhood." You must instruct your children in the truths of religion. Impress upon them the end for which they were created. Speak to them of the future life, of the eternal happiness or the eternal misery which awaits us - a heaven full of joy or a hell full of suffering. Speak to them of God's knowledge, who knows and sees all things; of God's justice, who leaves no good unrewarded and no evil unpunished. Instruct and warn them regarding all things appertaining to salvation. Let the words uttered by Tobias, when on his death-bed, be re-echoed in every household : Hear, my son, the words of my mouth, and lay them as a foundation in thy mind, and take heed thou never consent to sin nor transgress the commandments of the Lord our God. Never suffer pride to reign in thy mind or in thy words, for from it all perdition took its beginning. See thou never do to another what thou wouldst hate to have done to thee by another. Eat thy bread with the hungry and needy. Bless God at all times, and desire of Him to direct thy ways and that all thy counsels may abide in Him.Fear not, my son; we indeed lead a poor life, but we shall have many good things if we fear God, and depart from all sin, and do that which is good."
You must protect your children from the wolves. Know who their companions are. Watch over them that no wolf in sheep's clothing may enter amongst the flock, that none of the flock may stray into the wolf's den of the dance-hall, the public house, or any of the other miscalled places of amusement. Be not like the hireling who leaveth the sheep and flieth when he seeth the wolf coming.
You, like good shepherds, must go before your flock leading it in the right way. Children are taught far more by example than by words. You yourselves must be virtuous and God-fearing, diligent in the practice of your Christian duties. Do you go punctually to Confession, or are you slothful and careless, and put off for a year, or years, the worthy reception of Holy Communion? Are all your acts influenced by the consciousness of God's presence? Are you just and forgiving in your transactions with others? Are you solicitous to perform good works, works of charity, of mercy ? Would you have your children live according to the dictates of their holy faith? Then set them good example and they are sure to walk in your footsteps. "If any man have not care of his own, and especially those of his house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." Source: 5 minutes Sermons by the Paulist Fathers, Gospels 2nd Sunday after Easter 1893
Low Sunday: GOD OR THE WORLD?
by VP
Posted on Sunday April 12, 2026 at 12:00AM in Sunday Sermons
The Disbelief of Saint Thomas (Incredulité de Saint Thomas) - James Tissot
“The friendship of this world is an enemy of God.” — JAS. lv. 4.
1. The love of God and of the world.2. What is meant by the world.
3. We have to be in the world; the evil and the dangers of it.
4. How to overcome the world: Its twofold attack: adversity, pleasure. The victory won by faith.
"1. St. Augustine tells us that there are two loves, which make two different cities or kingdoms: the love of God, spiritual and infused, which makes the city of God, the Church of the elect; the love of the world and of self, so centered as to exclude God, that makes the city of the wicked, which is the kingdom of the devil, by whom it is possessed and ruled. "Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God ? Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of this world becometh an enemy of God." (James iv. 4.) This is the friendship that makes men insubordinate, disobedient, and displeasing to God. "Love not the world," says St. John, "nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him.” (I John ii. 15.) But let us beware of unreality and exaggeration; instead of doing good they do harm. So let us see plainly and exactly what is meant by the world and the friendship of the world.
2. By the world here is meant vain and vicious men, who love carnal, transitory, and earthly things inordinately — that is, to the exclusion of God —and these very things themselves, which such men seek and desire, grasp and cling to, that they may be enriched, praised, and exalted in this short life. Here is the evil and danger of it all.
3. We are in the world, and have to be in the world and mix with the world; where is the evil, then, in loving the things of the world ? God’s love has to be first and foremost in our hearts, and wherever and whenever things of the world seek to take this first place, there is the evil and the danger. Therefore duty to God constantly calls upon us to despise, break with, and even to hate the things and friendships of this world, inasmuch as they hinder us, or actually pervert us, from seeking and loving God. "For all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but of the world." (1 John ii.16.) We must, then, thus far overcome the world that we shall not allow it or any creature friend of it so to entice us that, for the desire or love of it, we shall transgress the law of God.
As "the friendship of this world is an enemy of God," as the text tells us, we see plainly that we cannot be friends with both. God and the world have nothing in common; their ends are diametrically opposed to each other. The world bows down to wealth, influence, success; Christ blesses poverty, meekness, persecution. The world makes the most of the present and the things of life, for it knows in its heart that it passeth away. Christ bids us remember that we are pilgrims and wayfarers here, to rejoice if the world hates us, for our true home is heaven, whither we are tending. "Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you." (1 John iii. 13.)
4. A twofold attack does the world advance against the servants of Christ. Adversity threatens that we may lose courage, and through fear be induced to sin. The world tried this for three hundred years of persecution in the early ages; it has tried it again in later times in many countries, and especially in England and in Ireland. And the glorious martyrs gave a triumphant answer, and gladly laid down their lives for the love of God. And the martyrs of more recent times vied in courage and alacrity with the martyrs of the olden days. The children of the Church had not changed with the lapse of centuries. In the same blessed choir of martyrs we behold Ignatius of Antioch and Fisher of Rochester, Cyprian and Thomas More, Lawrence and Campion the Jesuit! And the second mode of attack is an insidious one— the seductions of pleasure and prosperity, amusements and love, to entice and attract, to deceive and ensnare the hearts of the unwary and imprudent. This is the attack to which, in our days, so many, especially the young and impulsive, fall victims. Too self-willed to heed warnings, resenting interference, they are swept on with the crowds of pleasure-seekers, forgetful of God and their souls; the love of the world slowly but surely possessing itself of their heart and ruling it. He alone can withstand this attack who, with the eye of faith, looks up to God, and for His love and honor despises and rejects the blandishments of all created things.
St. John tells us what power it is that overcomes the world - our faith: "This is the victory that overcometh the world, our faith” (1 John v. 4) - the faith that tells us Jesus Christ is our Savior and our Judge, and therefore that our lives and hearts should be all for Him. A lively, strenuous faith pleases God so much! It is above all riches and honors and the substance of this world. It is the gift of God, but we can pray for it, and pray for more and more of it. The Gospels bid us do it. "And Jesus saith, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And immediately crying out, with tears, he said, I do believe, Lord: help my unbelief." (Mark ix. 22, 23.) "And Jesus saith, Have the faith of God. . . . Whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive; and they shall come unto you." (Mark xi. 22, 24.)
Let us pray for the love of God and the contempt of the world, with faith such as this. Then victory would be ours. May that faith be ours which, as St. Augustine says, "saves sinners, opens the eyes of the blind, cures the sick, baptizes, justifies, restores poor penitents to God’s favor, increases the merits of the just, crowns martyrs, preserves all in a sinless life, and places the elect with the angels in their eternal inheritance.” May the great and Blessed God deign to bestow this faith upon us all!"
Source: Short sermons, by Rev. Fr. Hickey 1913, Low Sunday
Steadfastness
by VP
Posted on Sunday April 12, 2026 at 12:00AM in Sunday Sermons
The Disbelief of Saint Thomas (Incredulité de Saint Thomas) - James Tissot
"Jesus saith to him: because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen and have believed."-St. John xx. 29.
"When Our Lord appeared to the disciples and gave them the commission to forgive sins, and thus instituted the holy Sacrament of Penance, St. Thomas was not present; and when the other disciples told him what had happened, and that He had shown them the wounds in His hands and in His feet, he refused to believe them; he declared he would not believe unless he himself should see them also. He said: "Unless I shall see the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."
This disposition of St. Thomas was very wrong. He ought to have believed without hesitation. He had seen our Lord work miracles without number; he had seen Him give sight to the blind, even those blind from birth; make the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak; he had seen Him raise the dead to life, raise Lazarus after being dead and buried already four days. He knew that our Lord had predicted His resurrection. He ought to have believed, and he sinned in not believing. He was obstinate in unbelief, refusing to credit the testimony of his companions, whom he knew to be honest and trustworthy.
Our Lord in the kindness of His heart forgave him, and made him put his finger into the print of the nails and into the wound in His side to convince him, and also to convince us by His testimony of the reality of His resurrection. But at the same time He rebuked him, and taught us all a grand lesson. He said: "Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed; blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed.”
We have the faith on the testimony of the apostles and disciples who recorded it in the Gospels, and who sealed their testimony in their own blood.
We have the testimony of all the disciples who repeatedly saw our Lord after His resurrection, sometimes a great number of them, over five hundred at once.
We have the testimony of the Catholic Church; of all those millions on millions who have lived from that day to this; of the wonderful providence of God and His care of His Church until now.
This ought to be enough. This ought to be enough to make us say our act of faith, "O my God, I believe whatever Thy Holy Church proposes to my belief, because Thou hast revealed it to her. Thou who canst neither deceive nor be deceived."
This is the age of unbelief. Very great numbers of men are occupied in trying to undermine the faith. The newspapers are full of infidel objections. The press is teeming with works written expressly to destroy the faith. The flimsiest reasons are brought forward with a bold face as if they were unanswerable. The very fact that the things of God and religion are so high and incomprehensible is brought forward as the principal reason why they are not to be believed.
We have believed once for all, on the truest and most solid evidence. Our business now is to "live by faith." To put in practice the precepts of our faith, and to follow the example of the Author and Finisher of our faith, our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are not of those who are to be "beat about by every wind of doctrine.” We are not to be moved by the vain babblings of men, who are wise in their own conceit and think they know everything, though they know very little after all. We will not imitate St. Thomas in his unbelief, and refuse to believe the wonderful things of God because they are so high and wonderful, but imitate him when in wonder and admiration he cried, "My Lord and my God." Believing in the testimony of God and His Church, and putting away all sceptical and imaginative doubts, we shall receive the blessing pronounced by our Lord: "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed." (Low Sunday - Five minute Sermons by the Paulist Fathers)
Easter Sunday: The Joy of Penance
by VP
Posted on Sunday April 05, 2026 at 12:00AM in Sunday Sermons
Touch me not by Jacques Tissot
"I WISH all of you, my brethren, the joys of this day. It is the day of our Lord's victory over death and hell. Many of you have received Him in Holy Communion either this morning or during the preceding week. To such He has found a way to communicate something of the vast ocean of love and joy which inundates His own soul. A good Communion, following a humble confession of sin, is indeed the nearest way to that tomb, riven and empty, and streaming with the light of heavenly joy, about which the Church gathers her children this morning. How well chosen is Eastertime for the annual Communion of all good Christians. "I have seen the tomb of Christ, who has risen from the dead," may we well say with Mary Magdalen. God grant that not one of you all may pass beyond Trinity Sunday without attending to what is so appropriately called the Easter duty.
It seems to me that this feast is a great day for sinners - meaning, of course, repentant sinners. For look at the facts? Who is the saint of the Resurrection by excellence? Certainly dear Mary Magdalen, the type of all the penitent. She stood beneath the Cross when Jesus died, comforting Him and His Mother in that dreadful hour of His doom and of that Mother's woe. And when the dead corpse was lowered down, Mary Magdalen pressed His limbs and feet and hands to her bosom while our sorrowful Mother clasped His heart to her own and kissed His pallid face a thousand times. Mary Magdalen helped to lay Him in His grave. She watched then; when driven away by the soldiers she bought spices and came again to embalm Him. And whose words are those repeated to-day all round the world as the dawn greets the watching glances of the faithful. "They have taken away my Lord! I know not where they have laid Him"; and again the amazed and ecstatic exclamation when she saw Him in the garden: "Rabboni! Master."
What a great store of love, says St. Gregory the Great, was in that woman's heart, who, when even His disciples were gone away, could not tear herself from the grave of the Lord!
See, then, my brethren, the reward of the love which is in true sorrow for sin; it is given a singular kind of pre-eminence; it is selected above that of innocence and placed on guard at the post of honor to receive the first public greeting from the Immortal King of Glory, triumphant over sin for ever. I say public greeting, for doubtless Jesus visited and greeted His Mother in private first of all; but this is not written down for our edification, and Mary Magdalen's privilege is. Sinners need encouragement, and certainly they get it today in the honor paid to their glorious patron, to the woman who had many sins forgiven her because she loved much.
I say again that sinners need encouragement. In truth, there is no shame so deadly as that which conscious guilt brings to the human soul. There is no degradation like vice - in fact, there is none other but vice. Hence many sinners are met with who do not turn to God and who hold back from confession and communion because they are ashamed and afraid. It is not so much love of sin as want of confidence that now hinders them. They have felt the force of passion as the slave feels the whip of the slave-driver; or they have repented before and fallen again, and this fills them with distrust in themselves; or their surroundings are a constant source of temptation; or they have been so long away that the very process of reconciliation to God, the very practice of the simplest acts of religion, have grown strange to them. These, and other reasons, varying from mere timidity to utter despair, show the need of a strong word of encouragement to sinners. This is the day for giving sinners courage to repent. Oh! let every man and woman partake of Christ's courage today. All who are sinners, let them loath and detest their sins, and let them feel that if our Lord is with them they can conquer any passion, resist any temptation, and persevere to the end.
It is a singular thing that not only the first recorded words of our Lord after His resurrection were addressed to His favorite child, the great penitent woman of the Gospel, but that the first interview He had with His disciples was begun by the institution of the Sacrament of Penance, the open door of that city of refuge our Lord's Sacred Heart. Now is the time, therefore, most appropriate for the return to God of all sinners among us. May our risen Savior give you that joy if you have it not, and if you have it, may He confirm it to you for ever! Amen." Five minutes sermons by the Paulist Fathers
